Chapter 15: Three Types of Sword Equipment - Giant Sword Forging Heart (Part 2)

  Rushing to the new chart in ten steps, urgently seeking recommendation votes and collections, hoping everyone will generously help, let Ten Steps truly take ten steps to kill one person, a thousand miles without leaving a trail, killing all the way to the top ten!

  As the Kyokujin Shinsei rotated, the primordial energy between heaven and earth continued to flow into Rikuto's body, circulating through the meridians along the trajectory of the Kyokujin Shinsei before returning to the dantian. By then, it had already been refined into a pale purple sword energy, gradually condensing into a purple energy mass within the dantian.

  After a brief moment of fragrance, Lu Qing stood up, his sword energy circulating throughout his body, warm and cozy. The sword energy in his dantian had clearly advanced another step. He picked up the large hammer again, and the Big Dipper 36 Hammers began to operate. The hammer was instantly covered with a layer of pale purple-red light, striking towards the black iron ore in the furnace fire.

  The continuous hammering sound, although not as powerful and intimidating as Lu Yun's initial display, still had a unique rhythm to it. The old man watched in a daze, occasionally mimicking the movements with his arms, but without the corresponding mental technique, he would often strain his waist after just one or two strikes. After several attempts, he was left wincing in pain and no longer dared to imitate Lu Qing's actions, instead simply staring at him with wide eyes.

  As Lu Qing continued to hammer and temper, the iron ingot recovered its original energy, and after repeated cycles, the originally irregular black iron ore had been forged into a six-foot-long, five-inch-wide black iron bar, with its color changing from grayish-black to refined deep black.

  However, the casting furnace used by Lu Qing at this time was also very handy, but he didn't know what fuel it used. Although it had been almost half an hour since then, the fire in the furnace hadn't decreased at all and was still burning fiercely.

  About an hour later, the original six-foot-long and five-inch-wide black iron bar had been refined to a great extent. Its size had shrunk again, becoming five feet seven inches long and four inches five parts wide. The color was even more profound, changing from deep black to a bright dark gray. This level of refinement made the old man on the side nod his head in admiration. Even the black iron sword that he had refined in the wooden basket next to him only had a deep black color. Although he hadn't put all his effort into it, this showed the wonders of the Lu family's traditional forging technique, "Great Evolution of Thirty-six Hammers". With Lu Qing's current six-hammer cultivation, he could achieve such an effect. One could imagine how astonishing it would be if all thirty-six hammers were used to their full potential.

  Time flies, and half a stick of incense has passed unknowingly. The long strip is gradually changing into a sword shape under Lu Qing's hammer. The entire sword presents a black-red color in the fierce furnace flame. The hilt is nine inches long, and the blade is four feet eight inches long, revealing a kind of thick and heavy atmosphere throughout.

  Outside the sword-casting house, occasionally passing disciples hear the continuous hammering sounds inside. The strange rhythm that accompanies each beat of time is almost the same, making people unable to help but merge their spirits into it. With the ups and downs of the rhythm, as if looking out at the vast blue ocean, waves rising and tides surging, one can fully experience the grandeur within.

  "Huang's skills have become even more profound!"

  "Who says it's not? That kind of hammering method almost drew my entire attention away, hoping that the old man can smoothly advance to a Qingfan-level swordsmith in his lifetime, so that the status of Chaoyang Peak in Zixia Sect can also be greatly improved."

  These were a few words that the old man vaguely heard, although they deviated greatly from reality, but still made him feel very pleased with himself.

  Looking at Lu Qing again, he waited until the sword embryo was completely red-hot. With a lift of his left foot, the white gold block on the side of the ground suddenly flew into the air and landed on the sword embryo. After being tempered by the fierce flames until it turned red, the large hammer danced again, pounding the white gold repeatedly, bearing the great force, the white gold gradually softened, slowly being hammered to tightly adhere to the sword embryo. Lu Qing did not stop, the large hammer continuously pounded along the edge of the covering, and the tongs holding the sword embryo also flipped over and over, until this fist-sized piece of white gold covered the entire sword embryo. After another half hour of pounding, the white gold had completely merged into the black iron. The entire sword embryo was still dark in color, but under the firelight, it faintly revealed a layer of pale silver light.

  And at this time, the only thing left was a piece of refined bronze that had not been used yet.

  "The black iron is hard and brittle, the refined black iron is even harder, but it's easy to break when it's just over-refined. When it encounters a greater force, it will break. On the other hand, white gold is ductile and has a high melting point. Adding a small amount of it can enhance the ductility of black iron to some extent. However, this refined copper seems to have no effect even after being melted in. Its hardness is not as good as steel, and its ductility is not as good as white gold. What do you want to do?" The old man furrowed his brow and said.

  "The black iron is hard, the white metal is soft. Although the initial sword has both characteristics due to the difference in quantity, it may become extremely hard or extremely soft after half a year. The bronze is between the two, and as the smelting progresses, it can well balance the characteristics of both, making it strong and flexible.

  Lu Qing didn't raise his head, and after heating the bronze until it turned red, he began to hammer and smelt it into the sword embryo. When Lu Qing spoke, the old man's eyes widened in surprise. What Lu Qing said about the use of bronze was already beyond the understanding of ordinary five-grade or lower swordsmiths. Even for him, it wasn't until he became a six-grade swordsmith that he began to come into contact with such relatively high-level swordsmanship theories."

  At this time, the old man's eyes on Lu Qing were even more determined, and he didn't speak again, but carefully watched Lu Qing's movements.

  The hammer method was like the wind, one hammer faster than the other. At this moment, Lu Qing did not use the Dà Yǎn Thirty-six Hammers again. The unyielding could not last long. To say nothing of the burden on the body and cultivation that the Dà Yǎn Thirty-six Hammers brought, which was not something that Lu Qing's sword servant cultivation could maintain from start to finish. This evenly smelted living count, according to Lu Qing's understanding of himself, was also not something that he could complete with the Dà Yǎn Thirty-six Hammers at present.

  Although it was just an ordinary hammering, Lu Qing's grasp of the sword embryo as a whole made the old man on the side secretly admire him. Seeing Lu Qing's large hammer fall, the hammer method was even faster than before, and the hammer surface touched the sword embryo and immediately retracted, with sparks flying everywhere. The force was just right to melt the bronze and spread it evenly over the surface of the sword embryo, with the dark and green colors blending together, gradually merging in, and the entire sword embryo appeared more and more harmonious during this process. If the previous sword embryo was a block of artificial rockery that had been polished, then after being melted into bronze, it became more and more like the shallow reefs that had taken root on the coast of the Sea of Swords.

  When the bronze was all melted into the sword embryo, the entire handle of the sword changed from a dark black color with a silver glow to a cyan-black color and had basically taken shape, except for the two edges of the blade which had not been sharpened and tempered yet, everything else was almost complete.

  But Lu Qing had already thought about what kind of sword he needed. The moonlit lake practiced sword, the dark current in the lake surged, and the sword was easy to break if it was too hard, but if it was too light, it would have no effect. If the blade was too sharp when it encountered water, it would split, so practicing sword on the shore was better. Therefore, what he wanted was such a sword.

  A purple glow flashed in Lu Qing's eyes, and the sword blade that still needed to be tempered was ignored. His left hand grasped a tongs and directly inserted it into the icy cold spring water of the Bihuanquan pond, which was emitting cold smoke, located at the front corner of the casting furnace against the wall.

  Hmph———

  A thick white smoke rose, quickly spreading to half of the casting sword house. Under the gaze of Lu Qing and the old man, the rising white smoke churned and slowly converged towards the middle.

  At this time, Lu Qing's expression was solemn and he stared tightly at the movement of the white smoke. Half a cup of tea later, the white smoke had completely concentrated in a space of more than ten inches above the stone bucket. In an instant, when the white smoke was fully retracted, it seemed to have received a great force and burst open from the center, scattering into countless pure white smoke blocks, among which four were exceptionally pure and flawless.

  It was as if they had found their target, and the scattered smoke blocks rapidly converged towards the four white smokes in the blink of an eye. Gradually condensing, slowly taking shape in front of Lu Qing and the old man, were three lotus flowers the size of a bowl, with a faint layer of pale white sword energy enveloping them.

  "What a pity, if you had tempered it before quenching, this fourth sword lotus would have condensed as well. This sword is between third and fourth grade." The old man said with some regret, because next to the three milky white lotus flowers, there was another one that only condensed into a faint white shadow, vaguely visible.

  Like the division of swordsmiths before Qingfan level, swords are also divided into nine grades before Qingfan level. It can be said that the division of swordsmiths is born by referring to the grade of swords, which is not a groundless product.

  The sword reaches a certain level, when tempered, it will condense into a white lotus flower. Because of the presence of sword energy, it is called a sword lotus. By analogy, two sword lotuses are second-rate, three are third-rate, and so on until nine are ninth-rate. The ranking of a swordsmith before becoming a master craftsman is determined by the number of sword lotuses that appear when the sword is born.

  Now, looking at the sword forged by Lu Qing, according to the old man's words, if it were to be opened, it would reach the level of a fourth-grade sword. This means that Lu Qing is at least a fourth-grade swordsmith, which may not seem like much to those who pursue the way of the sword, but to the old man, the number one swordsmith of Chaoyang Peak, it was shocking. To be able to forge a fourth-grade sword at such a young age, aside from a few rare geniuses from swordsmithing families, only the Sword Forging Palace would have the ability to cultivate such talent. Such an achievement is not something that can be accomplished through mere chance or luck; without a deep theoretical foundation and extensive practical guidance, it would be impossible. This further confirmed Lu Qing's identity in the old man's eyes.

  A moment later, the sword lotus dissipated, and the sword was lifted out of the stone bucket. This was a rather ancient-looking large sword, about three or four feet long, unlike the usual ten-pound long sword. After the sword was finally formed, it was five feet six inches long and four inches six points wide. When Lu Qing took it in his hand, he only felt his right hand sink, and he could only stabilize it by rotating the sword's origin. Carefully weighing it, he feared it weighed around eighty pounds or more. Without a blade or edge, compared to the uniform black iron sword that was previously issued, which was only second-rate, this large sword had already approached fourth-rate quality.

  Even among the top thirty disciples in the entire Chaoyang Peak, a large number of them still use the black iron sword. It's not that they can't own better swords, but with their current cultivation level, the black iron sword is already sufficient. Over-reliance on sharp weapons would only lead to disdain from others.

  "The sword has been forged, although it hasn't reached the fourth rank, but it barely qualifies for a title. Let's give it a name." The old man looked at Lu Qing with an indifferent tone.

  "Name," Lu Qing held the great sword across his chest, his left hand lightly stroking the blade. Perhaps due to the recent quenching of fire, the blade still retained a hint of residual heat, and his fingertips felt slightly scorching. His expression moved, and Lu Qing turned to bow to the old man, saying: "All the materials and tools for this sword were provided by you, Senior. I am deeply grateful, so as for the name... please bestow it upon me."

  "Hmm, good, you're more polite than those stinky kids who came to me for sword casting," the old man nodded in satisfaction. "As for this name, I'll give you one," he said after a moment of contemplation, his eyes constantly darting back and forth.

  "Alright," the old man stepped forward, picked up the large hammer that Lu Qing had used to forge the sword earlier, and placed it horizontally in front of Lu Qing, saying: "Where is the weight of the forged sword?"

  "It's on my mind." Lu Qing replied without hesitation.

  "Right, it's all about the heart. Forging a sword is like refining one's heart. The way of the sword is also in this. So, this sword will be named..."

  "Refine your heart!" Lu Qing's eyes lit up, and he had already understood the old man's meaning.

  This was his first time forging a sword on his own without the guidance of Lu Yun, his father. Three Supreme Giant Sword: Heart Refining! (Seeking recommendations and collections)